Month: December 2017

I ‘ve done a few posts about what my favorite Christmas films are- so what I’d like to share with you is how one in particular became my absolute favorite and how it went on to inspire me in my own writing.

That film is A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim.

I saw A Christmas Carol for the first time when I was a little girl. Very little. I was about five or six years old. So this would have been around 1969

I remember sort of catching bits and pieces of it, but the part I zeroed in on, the part that got my attention was when Scrooge came face to face with the The Spirit of Christmas Yet-to-Come .

I was a scary movie buff by this time ( one of my favorite TV shows was called ” Nightmare Theatre” ) and it had recently brought me into the universe of spooky movies and educated into the world of Ghosts, Witch Doctors, Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Mad Scientists and things from Outer Space.

So when Scrooge ran into this dark, faceless obviously merciless apparition I was impressed beyond words-enchanted and pulled into the story right then and there with my blanket over my head and my arms wrapped around my dog who was NOT into being squeezed to death by his young mistress judging by the way he desperately tried to get out of my arms.

Not to worry. I was not defenseless.

I just ran after him and dragged him back to the front of the tv with me. It took some doing because I refused to turn loose of my blanket and that was one strong little dog. He was fond of taking lungfuls of air. What can I say?

Anyway.

I was terrified and falling in love with this movie scream by silent scream on that Christmas Eve.

It was a magical experience and from then on not only had I become a life long fan of the movie I went on to read every single book from Dickens that I could get my hands on.

To this day I read those books slowly- I savor each word. I only allow myself a chapter a night so that I can prolong the experience.

A nod to that Christmas Eve when I discovered one of the best ghost stories on film EVER

It’s time to go into the weekend and start with the Christmas celebrations ( woo-hoo )

So this is what is on for tonight.

To read with a warm mug of eggnog and some Christmas cookies- a collection of Ghost Stories by one of my favorite authors M.R. James

Photo A.M. Moscoso

It’s not Christmas without Christmas music!

This nifty machine plays Cd’s, vinyl, it has a radio too. Classic King Radio has been playing wonderful selections of Christmas Music along with their usual programming, you can go on line HERE and stream their holiday program too.

So I’m set- are you?

Photo A.M. Moscoso

I haven’t decided which Christmas movie to watch tonight

Christmas Carol

It’s A Wonderful Life

or

Arsenic and Old Lace

What We Do In The Shadows

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

All of these are festive movies that really celebrate the human spirit so I’m torn here. I know what you’re thinking- ” Just pick one Anita Marie, they’re all good!”

No. It’s not that simple This is the movie that will kick off the Christmas weekend. So it’s important to me that I chose the right one.

And of course- what is any festive occasion without your best friend by your side?

No matter how you go about starting your Christmas Adventure this weekend – savor it, enjoy it, make it yours.

One of the best things about Christmas Carols are the many interpretations of the songs that are out there.

As a Writer I know that a story is meant to be told and that the best thing that can happen to it is that it will grow legs and run on it’s own- and if you’ve really done your job it will inspire others to tell a story too.

Here are three standard Carols ( I couldn’t chose just one as suggested by the prompt )with a new ‘do’ that I really do enjoy.

Today’s Waiting For Godot Advent-ure calls to you to go out and become a Cemetery Explorer.

I’ve done that off and on over the years and I’m thinking that I would like to take my exploration more seriously. I am hoping that in the upcoming new year my trips will become more organized- not that spontaneous trips are bad- they’re a lot of fun. The down side is that the material and notes I’ve gathered are scattered around in draft on two different blogs and my photos are in three different storage sites.

Included here are some pictures from various cemeteries that I’ve visited- all except for one is out of the State and a couple aren’t cemetery pictures at all, but the residents were on tour so I figure they’d count

Please take your time in looking at the photos- as I went through them I realized there was much more going on then I realized when I took them.